Where the “20 Under 40″ Went to School

This past week, The New Yorker announced its anticipated “20 Under 40” list of young fiction writers to watch. Since the list’s release, the smart set has been subject to much scrutiny but our own Christian Lorentzen thought it might be enlightening to examine where the list’s members received their educations. The results may surprise you. But they probably won’t.

University of Iowa: 8

Undergraduate: 1

Writers’ Workshop: 6

MFA, Creative Nonfiction: 1

Columbia University: 5

Undergraduate: 1

MFA: 4

Harvard: 3

Undergraduate: 1

Divinity School: 2

Cornell University: 2

Undergraduate: 1

MFA: 1

Johns Hopkins: 2 (M.A.)

Princeton: 2 (undergraduate)

Stanford University: 2

Undergraduate: 1

Stegner Fellow: 1

Yale: 2

Undergraduate: 1

Graduate: 1

University of Southern California: 2

Undergraduate: 1

Graduate: 1 (MFA, School of Cinema-Television)

Berea College: 1 (undergraduate)

Brown University: 1 (undergraduate)

City University of New York: 1 (MFA)

Eastern Connecticut State University: 1 (undergraduate)

Eastern Virginia Medical School: 1

Georgetown University: 1 (undergraduate)

McGill University: 1 (undergraduate)

Mount Sinai School of Medicine: 1

Oberlin College: 1 (undergraduate)

Oxford University: 1 (graduate)

St. John’s College: 1 (undergraduate)

University of California, Irvine: 1 (MFA)

University of Florida: 1 (undergraduate)

Wesleyan University: 1 (undergraduate)

Of the 20 celebrated authors, 14 have attended an Ivy League university at some point in their schooling. On the last list, only nine did. Well, that’s one thing that differentiates the group from a “hot Jersey girl getting into a trendy night club,” at least.